What Does the SECURE Notarization Act Mean for Notaries?

As technology continually evolves and as our world rapidly changes, the time for nationwide access to RON is now. With Senate approval anticipated soon, California, Delaware, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Washington D.C. are expected to soon join the rest of the country in reaping the benefits of RON. These states are those that lack legislation regarding Remote Online Notarization.

Since 2020, states have adapted to the utilization of remote notarization due to the unavoidable need caused by the pandemic. Most individual state laws regarding legal notarization date back to before computers even existed.

What does this law mean for notaries? The SECURE Notarization Act ensures that notaries in all 50 states can legally complete RON transactions. Most importantly, this legislation further clarifies the interstate recognition of RON transactions legally conducted in other states. There will now be little room for misunderstanding, and every U.S. citizen has access to completing their notarization through RON. Individual notaries will be able to confidently execute remote online notarizations. States without legislation regarding RON will have instant access to RON, as well as security requirements put in place. The minimum requirements for RON transactions will be mandatory nationwide. These requirements include the use of multi-factor authentication, such as knowledge-based authentication (KBA) and credential analysis. Additionally, notarizations are required to capture an audio-visual recording of the notarial act, and they must use tamper-evident technology.

Any states with RON laws that do not include the specified minimum requirements of the SECURE Act will be responsible for implementing these standards. There are several states, such as Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, and Rhode Island, that allowed for temporary online notarization. The SECURE Notarization act will bring forth permanent legalization of RON in such states. As previously specified, all U.S. citizens will have legal access to RON, and additionally, U.S. citizens overseas will also be included. Military personnel will now be able to execute notarizations more conveniently. There are benefits in convenience, cost, security, and fraud protection from Remote Online Notarization. It is clear to see that the federal legalization of RON is a step in the right direction.

Despite the obvious advantages of RON, questions such as, “Is there an increased risk of fraud?” are not uncommon. Although some online fraud is unfortunately inevitable, RON provides a number of protections simply not possible in a paper and ink process. SIGNiX’s TotalAudit™ system captures an extensive quantity of legal data associated with a RON transaction. Items such as the signer’s location, email address, identity authentication, and browser are just a few of the details incorporated in a comprehensive audit trail. In addition, every SIGNiX transaction is securely sealed utilizing tamper-evident technology. It will be clear if a document has been falsely altered.

SIGNiX surpasses many RON competitors in terms of security. SIGNiX is one of the top programs on the RON market because of the extensive time and effort put into the software. Security is imperative to your success in completing Remote Online Notarizations. The best action to take towards preventing fraud is by choosing software that implements the highest quality of security into their product. A platform such as SIGNiX cares for its customers’ safety and success. You can substantially lower your risk of fraud by signing with SIGNiX.  Find out how by scheduling your demo today.